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Meiying's Decision

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Is love always beautiful? It will be great if it is, but life is not a romantic Disney story. Do not kid yourself into believing that every love story has a happy ending, because in reality, such perfection never exists. Indeed, love can sometimes be the cause of one’s downfall by turning his or her life into turmoil. Worst, it can scarily be used to justify one’s action in harming others. In The Jade Peony written by Wayson Choy, Sek Lung informs us of the existence of a Romeo and Juliet kind of tragedy through his narration of the love story of Meiying, his babysitter to whom he looks up. This forbidden love had unfortunately caused Meiying to be a criminal because her pregnancy had given her a reason to commit a sin towards the pure-hearted life growing in her womb. In the last chapter of the book, Meiying was discovered with “[…] two long knitting needles glinting between [her] legs” (Choy 275), showing her effort in aborting her baby. Meiying has bravely decided to put an end to the life of her own child using her own two hands because of the external and internal pressures surrounding her pregnancy. Meiying thinks that her pregnancy is socially unacceptable and it clashes with her interests.
Meiying is afraid that her pregnancy will be used as an instrument to marginalize her in society. First and foremost, the fact that Meiying is bearing a child outside of a marriage is totally unacceptable, especially in the traditional society of Chinatown back in Vancouver during

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